ABB uses robotics to paint sleep patterns with “Sleep Art” project

ABB, the Swiss manufacturer of power and automation technologies, has deployed advanced robotics to venture into original works of art. The “Sleep Art” project involves robots from ABB producing art in collaboration with human subjects while they sleep. The project is a collaboration between the advertising agency BETC Digital (Havas Worldwide Group), the Swedish production company ACNE, and ABB France’s Robotics business.

ABB’s smallest robot, the IRB 120, plays the roles of painter, transcribing the overnight movements of sleeping guests participating in the project. Using software-processed data transmitted by 80 sensors embedded in the mattress, an individual’s sleep pattern is converted into art when the IRB 120 selects colors from several paint pots and executes its work on canvas, creating a rendering that no human is capable of, according to ABB.

Here is the “Sleep Art” film:

The mattress sensors collect data related to temperature, movement, and sound, feeding real-time information into a digital algorithm. Using software produced by ACNE, and an interface developed by ABB, the robot converts the data into a visual interpretation of the energy and motion of sleep.

The “Sleep Art” project is part of a Facebook promotion for the European hotel chain ibis (ibis, ibis Styles and ibis budget). The campaign kicked off Oct. 13 at the ibis hotel in Paris, and will travel to Berlin and London before concluding in late November. A complete gallery will be posted online, after which participating guests will receive their original works of “sleep art” to keep.

To learn more about the “Sleep Art” project and register for a chance to win a piece of robotic art work, visit the ibis Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ibis.